Hello February! Hello LoveMonth! Oh yes, we are on the cusp of LoveMonthDay, so for me it is timely to welcome my PMS! That is my Personal Mission Statement! Ha, got you a tad nervous with that acronym didn’t I?!

So why this now? Well, why not?! It is LoveMonth after all & there is no better place to start than with oneself! And a Personal Mission Statement is the biggest Love Gift you can give yourself. Most folk start this brewing around December & pour it out in the first month of the new year. As you know by now, I’m not most, so here I am pouring mine out in Feb no less! It’s not that I haven’t thought about it, let it simmer, & tasted it from time to time – in the last two months – to check if it needed more seasoning. I have, plenty of times, and indeed I did a lot of tasting, simmering and tweaking! And perhaps I’ll do a lot more tweaking in the coming months – that’s fine; The great thing about a P.M.S is that it is not set in concrete! It can be s.o.l.i.d, no doubt, but it can also be as fluid as you choose it to be. The important thing is that you have one!

So, what is a Personal Mission Statement? Put simply, it’s like starting with the end inmind! Let’s take 2012. What do you want to be in 2012 – kinder, more generous, more assertive, fitter? What do you want to achieve this year – run a mini marathon, learn a new language, move into your own apartment, finish school with a satisfying B+?! This is just the tip of the iceberg, but you get the gist. It is summoning up all that is in you, & all that wants to come out & be shared with the world – whether with family and friends alone or on a global scale. It is finding your inner compass – where am I at, & where am I going; It’s starting out with the privilege of your very own personal GPS! It is starting with the end in mind. And just how do you start? Well, with DESIRE of course – simple!

Nothing can ever work without desire. No amount of vision, intention, goal-setting & hard work can ever present that for which you wish – without the desire for it! Ask yourself what it is for which you have a burning desire? It can be one thing or ten! It can be purely character based or focussed on health or solely on career and making money! Or perhaps it’s all of the above?! It doesn’t matter the content or context; It only matters that you clearly desire this! With that, my darling, you are ready to write, type, finger paint or stamp out your Personal Mission Statement! Hooray – first step taken!

Step number two – my favourite part of writing – is to brainstorm! Grab pen & paper or fire up your lappie and go to it. Don’t think too much about how you’ll structure it or how it’ll look. Just start writing. Start with simple sentences like Make a difference/ Take responsibility/ Education is sexy/ I see a diamond in the now/Be invigorated and enthusiastic/ Spontaneous play/ Believe and embrace, and so on. You may graduate to full-blown complex sentences that morph into delicious, whole paragraphs – keep going, this is great! You’ll find that as you flex your writing muscle, your brain will give you more and more until pages or reams of your DESIRE is looking up at you – specific & tangible! Remember to start with the end in mind.

What do you really value? Where do you want to spend your energy? With whom? And where do you want to drop your cash? The answer to each one of these questions is your gift to yourself. What truly matters? How can you pay yourself, starting today – now, and continue to do so for as long as that desire is grabbing onto every cell in your body! When you start gifting and paying yourself, others – the Universe and everyone else – will follow suit; It is how this wonderful world works! If you have no desire, or vision, or direction, how can the GoodGalaxy reward you? Be clear. Be specific. Do this with YOU in mind. It’s not your mother or husband, friend or neighbour’s Personal Mission Statement. However preposterous it may sound to others, this is your mission statement – your life of prodigious possibilities that makes its debut right now as your very own talisman! From your reams of ScrabbleScribbles & seamless sentences, ease into step 3, and let it brew. Let your words simmer. This process of procuring a Personal Mission Statement does take time. If you can hit it on the head in one fell swoop, then kudos to you! Most of us need that percolating period; The trick is to aim for completion – if you need a week or several, even a month or two, that’s fine, just focus on getting something up & in front of you, so that you can begin the steering. Like I said, it doesn’t have to be finite or the final one even. That’s the beauty of a Personal Mission Statement – it can be quite fluid within its deliberate structure; There is room for it to evolve and change as you will over the coming years or months, maybe even weeks! Depending on opportunities that come your way, circumstances that change or simply that you’ve changed your mind! It’s all viable, acceptable & encouraged – this is how you grow; Imagine you had no guidance! When you come back to your “brewery” – hahaha – armed with a fresh pad of paper [!] look at your sentences and, without thinking, let your eye catch key words or key phrases. Pull and pen onto new paper, and let the culling begin! You can, if you want, have a mini essay as your mission statement [it’s hard to cull I know!] but I would encourage you to whittle it down to the WinningWords. That way, your brain can very quickly and easily pop a word-pill at any time of the day & give you that buzz that only this kind of inspiration can give!

As quickly as you look to the spot above your desk, or pull a copy from your wallet, or glance at your fridge door, so you can be reminded of your desire and summoned to remain on course to your success! Keep culling until you reach your SupremeStatementSynopsis and then go forth and decorate your domain – office included! Print out your Personal Mission Statement – be as creative as you wish – & poster it up wherever you can see it on.a.moment.to.moment.basis. Tip: Where you spend most of your time is always a good place! If your coffee machine is next to your fridge, and you love your coffee, then pop it there! If you are a CyberCat, then desktop it or slap it above your desk! Stick a copy in your wallet or your Filofax, in the glovebox of your car; write it in lipstick on your bathroom mirror – go wild! If you can only display it in one place, then that too is perfect; The important thing is that you can see it all.the.time. So when you are feeling overwhelmed or tired, or bombarded by the everyday-schrapnel, you can look up & be reminded of your true you! The you you want to be! The you that has her [or his!] eyes on the WinningWords, the you that has her [or his!] input firmly programmed into that personal GPS!

In the spirit of LoveMonth, and self-love, give yourself the gift of a Personal Mission Statement – if you haven’t already done so! Don’t by coy and don’t delay – I’m about to lay bare mine right here, right now! Who said PMS isn’t a blessing ;)

I decided to try something a little different, and play with wordle to create it! I also did a more traditional version and printed it:

You'll notice tweak-additions already!

And she lives? On my fridge door, above my desk, and in my Picasso notebook & handbag! Obviously I need [& like] to see my 2012 Personal Mission Statement often and while I’m on the go! Now, it’s your turn. Go on, I dare you to be “The master of your fate, the captainof your soul”You-can-do-it!

I breathed in the sky, the sunshine and the breeze – I tried not to worry, think too much…about “stuff”. I deliberately put my head into the day as it was – Friday, birthday, warm, clean air, a radiant city, good folk all about, alive, safe…fortunate!

My NumberOneMan™ ‘flew a plane’! We landed at Kai Tak, in a storm; It was brilliant!

We laughed with a best mate, & took photos of me inside a photo booth – fun!

We looked at boats; I clung to a leopard print dress that threatened to expose my underthings every 2 seconds! I laughed — instead of berating myself for terrible-windy-day-dressing — & knotted that dress down into a new style!

We snapped & let the video cam roll. We sipped tea and wine, and supped on good steak!

Flippin’ sparkling day!

In short, don’t worry too much about anything. Do what you love when you can – if “always” & “forever” are not yet viable. Five minutes of bliss is totally bombastic! 5 minutes at a time can blow away anything you wish to cast off, for those 5 minutes or for good. 1 2 3 4 FIVE — get your feel-good game ON! And have a FUN week following your FUN weekend!